This blog is intended to help facilitate your successful exploration of and preparation for graduate school. It is an exciting exchange of tidbits, tips and tricks of the trade. It is a wellspring of guidance and ideas for you to consider and pursue!

Monday, January 7

Welcome 2013! It's here. So, what do you want 2013 to look like for you? How do you want to feel? With the turn of the year and the start of a new semester, your outlook and approach to things can feel especially fresh. It's always a good thing to reflect upon the past year or semester and think about the things that worked, things that didn't work, what might have been particularly inspiring to you, major accomplishments that you can build on, areas in your life that might need improvement.

For me, I'm pretty psyched that we got refunded and I can keep doing this amazing work with some amazing scholars. Now that's an accomplishment! I'm proud that I ran my first 5K at a 10-minute mile pace and started personal training - made me feel strong. I'm inspired by my new thinking about my work - coaching work that is - and building on this with my upcoming interactions with all of you.

Time still escapes me though and this is an area in my life that I really want to work on this year. I know that the key for me in being most productive - creatively, personally, professionally - is to rise early to create the time and space to do just that. I also know that if I could institute better "sleep hygiene" that it would bring this goal into reach. Going to bed around the same time and waking up around the same time (including weekends!) is essential but hard to do! Ideally, I'm shooting for sleep between 9:30 and 10 and wake between 5 and 5:30. Food is the other thing that needs work! I'm still a sugar addict. Late at night (and weekend!) sugar eating isn't doing me any favors and I know it. Most of you will say - oh Lynn, you eat so well - well, that's because you usually aren't with me during nights and weekends...LOL! I know that if I brought this into moderation, it would not only make me feel better, it would improve my sleep. A win-win - yes?

So, how do I want to feel in the New Year? My top-three at the moment: effortless, smart and in my zone. I want to make things as easy as possible and stop dwelling on the "shoulda coulda woulda's" in my life. I want to use my gifts and talents and stop second guessing myself. I want to develop an inner and outer focus that will bring my creativity to light. I want to feel at ease when I'm interfacing with others. When I'm at ease, I feel alive and joyful.

How do you want to feel? Share with us in the comments below! Cheers to 2013! :-)

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Food for Thought

“The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating -- in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.”